Time's Mistress, Time's Slave
by deathgeonous
Summary: They call Sailor Pluto the Mistress of Time, but is she? Find out as she directs the time line around one Ranma Saotome to ensure her dreams of Crystal Tokyo.
1. LOW PROBABILITY

AN: Yet another Ranma ½ Sailor Moon Crossover by me. What can I say? I like them. Any way this is the Prologue to my story, it's short and everything is pretty much explained in it, so I don't feel the need for a summery, so on to the DUM DUM DUM-

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½. I do not own Sailor Moon. I do not own any fictional person, place or thing used in this story. I do not own any real person, place or thing used in this story. All original persons, places and things used in this story as well as the story it's self are mine though.

TIME'S MISTRESS, TIME'S SLAVE

PROLOGE

LOW PROBABILITY

A contemplative moment at the Gates of Time

Time. The others call me the 'Mistress of Time'. I, more often then not, feel like its bitch. Time is an integral part of the universe and no one, not even a true and powerful Deity, can control it. I should know. I've met a lot of beings, Deities included, in my service to time its self. Time is some thing that can be guided and shaped, yes, but never out right forced or controlled. I have gotten a lot of respect from beings far more powerful then I'll ever be, for my manipulation of the time stream to save earth. They don't care about my goals or what I'm fighting for, the survival of the human race, they just respect my progress. No one, not even some of the most powerful Deities and Demons I know of, have my expertise in manipulating the time-stream. Some of them even talk of making me the first Goddess of Time. They never could find any one that could possibly fill the role before I came along.

I don't care about that. If they ever do offer, I'll probably take them up on it. It certainly would make my job a hell of a lot easier. But I sincerely doubt it will happen. It could piss off the universe, something no Deity wants to do. Yes the universe is a conscious thing, and with time being an integral part of it, doing that just might piss it off.

But enough about that. I was busy tracking my, and even I will call it this, obsession, the outcome of Crystal Tokyo. It was running very, very low this week, and I intended to find out why.

This showed me that time still had tricks up its sleeve, for I found the cause of the problem. One Ranma Saotome. Oh he, and I guess that's the proper gender noun, for that's what he was born as, wasn't the real problem, nor was it his screwed up life. Watching that made me ill, something that had not happed in centuries. No it was his coming death that was the problem.

That's why I said that this showed time still had some tricks up its sleeve. For I never have had to save someone's life before to insure Crystal Tokyo. It's always been the opposite, I either had to kill them or outright remove them from the time stream it's self in order to preserve the out come I wanted.

So I knew this, guy's, I guess, past, and knew that his death would lead to a very, very reduced out come for Crystal Tokyo, but I didn't know how he would die, or why his death reduced my desired out come. So I went looking for that information. Seeing what he had just beaten, an immortal phoenix, I really didn't want to have to face what ever could kill him. Not that I couldn't handle that thing, but it would be close. Too close for my tastes.

The cause of his death would have been laughable, if it wasn't so fatally serious. He got stuck as a she yet again, along with the prince of the Musk, Herb. Herb was presenting the Locking Ladle to Ranma as a gift of fealty during a ceremony, and tripped, spilling it on both of them, getting them wet, changed, and locked.

Ranma had been decided as the new ruler of the entire Jusenkyo region after stopping the Musk and the Amazons from wiping out the Phoenix people after he left the last time, and after that, they decided on him as the new ruler of the three people.

Well after yet another locking, yet another battle royal started in response. But this time, Ranma died. He got struck with a Perfect Shishi Höködan from Ryoga, about fifty Hitö Ryü-zan Ha's from Herb and around one hundred and two various bladed instruments, mostly Scottish Claymores, by Mouse, while trying to shield Akane, whom was protecting his, now her, mother. Ranma was sliced to pieces and then atomized by the blast. Akane and Ranma's mother died as well.

That started an epic war in the Jusenkyö valley, and got the Chinse government into it. This started a civil war in China, and long story short, started World War Three.

So, simple solution right? Don't let Ranma get locked. Wrong. I learned a long, Long, LONG, LLLOOONNNGGG ass time ago that before you make any changes to the time stream, you make damn sure that your change will get you your desired result before you do so.

So I looked up what would happen if Ranma did not get locked. Well low and behold, it was almost the same, and maybe even worse. The Chinese government saw Ranma as an anti-government rebel leader, and went in to kill him and crush his so called 'Rebel Forces'. After getting their assess handed to them a few times by Ranma's forces, China got pissed off and dropped a Nuke in their own Country. Don't ask me what the hell they were thinking, because even I, with all my years of watching humanity, can't figure that one out.

Well they didn't warn anyone else that they were detonating a Nuke within their borders, and Russia's defense computers registered it as the start of a Nuclear War, and launched its missiles on auto-pilot. Thus we had a nuclear war and winter, thus killing any chance of Crystal Tokyo.

'Ok, that's no good.' I thought to my self after seeing that out come. So I then checked out what would happen if Ranma got locked as a female along with Herb, yet did not die.

"What the hell?" I asked my self out loud as I saw the numbers for that scenario. And I do mean numbers. As in multiple sets of them, reflecting multiple sets of outcomes.

They ranged from very, very, extremely bad, to very, very, extremely good. In fact it was some of the worst I've ever seen on one end, although not quite as bad as if he wasn't locked or had died, those two took first and second place respectively, to the best out come I've ever seen on the other end. Ninety Nine point Nine Eight Seven percent. That is amazing. I've never even seen it in the high Nineties, the highest I've ever seen it before, right after Galaxia was a little over Ninety Two percent.

So I decided that Ranma must be locked if Crystal Tokyo was to happen, yet I must continue to, guide, if you will, Ranma's life afterwards, to get the out come I so desperately needed, an almost certain chance at Crystal Tokyo.

So I sat at the Time Gates, scanned the time lines, and planed.

AN: Well another story off and running. I'm working on Chapter One now. Hopefully it will be out soon.


	2. CHANGING THE FUTURE

AN: Thanks for all the reviews! I'll hopefully try to keep this as original as I can. Doubt I'll be overly successful though. This chapter starts out in a narrative like the last chapter, and then it switches to a first person, in the middle of things. The whole story will be told either in a narrative, or an 'in the middle of things' first person experience.

TIME'S MISTRESS, TIME'S SLAVE

CHAPER ONE

CHANGING THE FUTURE

The Gates of Time

I'll tell you something. Before any large changes to someone's fate in the time line, it's always a good idea to watch their entire life, so that you not only change it at the right moment and in the right way, but also so you understand your target. It is also wise to look at as many upstream branches of the time line as possible to see what your changes will bring.

So I watched Ranma Saotome's life yet again, but this time paid particular attention to the last few weeks of his life.

After reviewing it for the umpteenth time, I cursed. There was no possible way to stop his/her/whatever's death with out direct intervention. I would need to be physically there. I just couldn't stop it from here through the Gates.

And I would need help. Help from the girls. I just couldn't cover all of the player's in this mess at once.

Stumped on how to ask the girls for help with this, I went and looked at some up stream probabilities. One, they might help me get an idea on what to say to the girls, and two, I needed to anyway.

Now I don't shock easily, but this did shock me. In over two thirds the good time lines, both Ranma and this Herb character were Senshi, one's that don't even exist! Some how, some way, both Ranma and Herb, became Sailor's Sun and Earth, respectively in those time lines. Those Senshi never even existed before! How the hell did that happen?

I rewinded those time lines to see how Senshi that don't exist can. "It was me? I did this?" I asked out loud after seeing my self help create them.

"Yes you did." A voice I know well said. It was my own voice. 'Great.' I thought 'Another visit from myself.'

"Yes it's me, you." My future self said as I turned around. "You know, it went slightly different this time around. You weren't supposed to find out about Ranma's death, I was supposed to tell you, and then I was tell you about Ranma and Herb being Senshi much later. I don't know what went wrong." My future self said shaking her head.

My eyes went wide. "You mean, you're in the wrong past?" I asked.

"Looks like it." She said flatly.

I swore. A lot. She then followed suit. After our cursing session I asked "So what now?"

"Well, I guess I can tell you what I can that I know, I can't hurt my future here." She said.

"That's not like us, just giving out information, but I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth as they say." I laughed.

We then sat down in the kitchen area. Hey this is a pocket dimension, it has all it needs to be a self contained world, or a house at the very least. I got us some snacks and something to drink and she started talking.

"Ok, you know about Ranma and Herb, so I don't need to go there." She started off with. "So I'll go over what you don't know. Chaos himself is coming." She stated flatly. I gasped.

"But all my searches showed that he wasn't coming! He didn't like the odds!" I exclaimed. All the Senshi's enemies, from Beryl to Galaxia were just his play things, to gage the level of challenge he could expect from us. After Usagi beat Galaxia, he didn't like the odds and left us alone, or so I had thought.

"It was a ruse, to get our guard down." She said, saying what I had already guessed. "Ranma is, well he's one of Chaos's favored." She continued. I winced. That was bad. Being one of his favored is, well let me put it this way, Pandora was one of his favored, and we all know how that turned out. They all usually end up destroying a civilization or word or universe or even dimension. It sucks. And usually, they're like Ranma, nice people who do it by accident for the best of reasons.

Normally, I'd just take out a chosen of Chaos, no matter how good a person they were, but this wasn't a normal situation. "So, if he's a favored, why is it that we got him to help us as a Senshi? And what about Herb?" I asked.

"Remember the Prophesy of Chaos?" She asked. I nodded "Remember the last line, 'And lo, the favored shall lay the favoring low, and assume the mantle'?" She quoted. I nodded again. I think I know where this was going. "Well your to help Ranma succeed in fulfilling the prophesy." I knew it. This wasn't the first time that Time has made me help fulfill a prophesy it wanted fulfilled. I was like its errand girl for those kind of things. God there's times I hate my job, and Time it's self too. It looked like this was shaping up to be one of those times.

"So I have to help fulfill another prophesy. That explains Ranma, but Herb?" I asked.

"Her, and yes I meant to say that, and you better start thinking of them in the female too, help will be needed. I've said too much on this already, but I will say this, the Senshi powers that they use are not false or made up. Look for them, they were never used and abandoned, but the keys to unlocking there power are hidden in the Mercury Computer. Have Ami find them. Good luck and good bye." She said disappearing.

"Damn it!" I cursed "Why do I always have to be so mysterious!" I yelled.

Sighing, I decided I had to get the girls together to tell them about this. I then smiled. For once, I was going to be blunt and to the point with them. That should give them all heart palpitations.

Digging out my communicator, I called up Ami. "Yes? Oh hi Setsuna." Ami said absentmindedly. I was obviously disturbing her homework time. "Can you get the other girls to meet me at the shrine? And bring the Mercury Computer, I need you to look for some thins in it." I told her.

"This is going to be bad, isn't it?" She said with disgust. "And here I was hoping you were right, when all logic told me you were wrong. See you there." She said, turning off the communicator.

Sighing at her accurate guess, I prepared to move my self back into the time stream. I was giving myself a week before Ranma's death, and I hoped it would be enough, but it was all the time I could give my self. I laughed. The so called 'Mistress of Time' was worried that she doesn't have enough of it. If only the others could appreciate this irony. Well maybe Ami could, but she's the only one.

Well I stepped on through the portal to the shrine, and all the girls were there. Sneaking up behind them all I said "Hello."

As they all jumped a little I stifled a laugh. Ah that was a great way to relieve stress.

"Girls," I started, when I was interrupted by Ami sighing voice saying

"Who is it this time?"

"It's Chaos himself." I said in reply.

"Chaos, Chaos,… where have I heard that name before?" Usagi asked herself.

I mentally screamed. 'How? How could such a dizzt grow into Neo Queen Serenity? One of the wisest, calmest, and infallible beings I know of? It's madding!' I thought to my self. After taking a deep breath, I said "He's the being behind all of our enemies Princess."

"Oh yah," She said snapping her fingers "Galaxia mentioned him. I thought he wasn't coming." She said, suddenly looking serious.

"I thought so too. It was just a ruse. I found out about this in a, indirect, I guess you could say, way. I found out about one of his chosen." I started, When Rei said

"Well let's kick its ass then!" and the others nodded in their agreement.

"NO!" I shouted.

"Huh?" they asked as one.

I sighed. "His chosen are not like his pawns. They exist for the sole purpose of spreading chaos, and are usually never even aware of his influence on their lives. Now usually this does stop me from eliminating them, but this one is different."

"How so?" Hotaru asked.

"Other then his, or should I say her coming death would start World War Three, she is the one spoken of in the Prophesy of Chaos." I said.

"Can you explain that?" Usagi asked, still all business.

"Certainly Princess." I said, getting a reaction of surprise from her. "It's like this. The chosen of Chaos are spreaders of chaos, and are usually not aware of his influence on their life. They have the unfortunate curse of usually ending their civilizations, which is why I usually terminate them. How ever, in this case, he, I mean she," the stared at me for that slip up "is part of the Prophesy of Chaos, the last part, on his Prophesized final defeat. If any defeated him before, he could come back, after a little while of energy gathering, but if she beats him, he can't come back."

"Why?" Usagi asked.

"Princess, I may not say. For one of you may let the reason slip, and she can not know of the Prophesy for it to work." I told her.

"Fine, but who is this 'She' you keep referring to?" Usagi asked.

"And what was I supposed to look up?" Ami asked.

"Let me tell you about the life of a boy named Ranma Saotome." I started.

"I thought we were talking about a girl here?" Makoto asked.

"We are, or we will be." I said.

"Huh?" came from every one present.

"Just listen. And as I tell this tale, while you listen Ami, I want you to look up the protocols for initiating the powers of the Senshi of the Sun and Earth. I don't know where they'd be, probably under 'Classified' and 'Abandoned Projects'." I said looking at Ami, who then got her Computer out.

"Now to begin our tale." I said, going into a abbreviated version of Ranma's life for them.

AN: Well there it is, the first chapter. I don't think I've ever rewritten a chapter more times then this one, nine times to be exact, but it just wouldn't come out right. I chose the over used Sun and Earth, yes, but hey, they're the only large astral bodies left in this solar system other then some large moons. And yes I am fukuing Herb. Well next chapter I'll probably get to the Senshi meeting Ranma. At least I plan on it. Don't know if it will work out that way though. Bye.


	3. SAVING LIVES

TIME'S MISTRESS, TIME'S SLAVE

CHAPTER TWO

SAVING LIVES

Rei's Temple

"And that's why Ranma not getting locked or dieing leads to World War Three." I told a wide eyed group of Senshi.

Silence was prominent for a moment, till Ami sighed with obvious aggravation and asked "Why am I looking for the activations on Sailor's Sun and Earth again?"

"Because Ranma and Herb are to become them." I told the group.

"What!" they all yelled at me.

"I saw it in future time lines. That's time lines, as in more then one of them. If Chaos is to be defeated, we need Ranma's and for some reason Herb's help. And to do that, they must become Senshi." Sighing I said "Even though I hate to admit it, this confuses me too."

"So, we're not the only one stumped by this?" Haruka asked.

"No, even I'm stumped. And it seems we, god how do I explain this. My future self came back to explain things to me that I already knew. She wound up in the wrong past. We're not," I sighed as I thought how to explain this "I'm not sure we're part of the main time line any more." I said flatly.

Ami shot up at this. "What do you mean?" she asked nervously. She was the only one who got the implications of that statement.

"Is this a bad thing?" Usagi asked nervously.

"Maybe Princess. It could be a bad thing, or it could be a good thing." I said uncertainly.

"Please explain that now Setsuna." Usagi said to me coldly. She was slipping more and more into her Queen persona as this conversation went on.

"Your Majesty, it's like this," I started "When my future self came back in time and found that I had already found out some of the things she was supposed to tell me, it meant we were out of her time loop. For that's what it is like, a loop. I get the message, and then later on I give it. But my alternet future self came to a point in time when I already knew some of the things she was to say, which means she's from an alternet future. And if her future is the main time line, then our time line is an alternet reality of the main time line, and we can't count on what we knew about the future beforehand to be true. I now have to research everything I once knew about the future all over again." I stated. Sighing I continued with "When I have the time. That will probably have to wait till Chaos has been defeated." I sighed at the absolutely huge amount of work I had in front of me.

"How does this effect Crystal Tokyo?" Usagi asked me nervously.

"The results are all over the place at this point and time. From the worst I've ever seen, with Ranma's death, to the best I've ever seen. It will take some time to straiten it all out." I said laughing. The others looked at me like I was losing my mind. I might as well have been, with the way I felt.

"And making this Ranma and Herb into Senshi will make the more positive outcomes happen?" Ami asked me.

"Yes." Was all I said. Nodding she went back to work on her computer.

"When was this Ranma supposed to die?" Hotaru asked me, breaking the silence.

"In one week. We have a week." I told them.

One week later: in the Tendo courtyard

"Does everyone remember the plan?" I asked.

"When Ranma and his, er her fiancée and her Mother are about to die," Usagi started.

Hotaru picked up there "I through up a Silence Wall around them,"

And then Haruka picked it up from there, finishing the sentence. "And then we go into the fray."

As we watched, Ranma and Herb got splashed with the locking ladle, which led to a heated argument between the two, which lead to a nasty fight between the two, that soon everyone there was involved in.

We were all in such, I don't know, shock, awe? Whatever. Even me, who's seen scene this many, many times, that we almost missed our cue. The Silence Wall went up almost too late, and then we hesitated for a fraction of a second, which led to us being attacked, instead of us surprise attacking them.

I was next to Hotaru, near the Silence Wall that was still up, protecting her while she protected Ranma. "Stop it!" he, er she yelled. "Stop it!" She yelled louder. As I deflected more throwing weapons from Mousse, Ryoga was slammed through a wall by Herb, and a huge chunk of rock hit Hotaru in the head, causing her to be rendered unconscious which in turn shut off the Silence Wall.

"I SAID STOP IT!" Ranma cried as Hotaru slipped into unconsciousness. Watching her fall, Ranma started to glow bright Yellowish-Red. 'Oh shit!' I thought and hugged the ground, guessing what I thought she'd do. I was flat against the ground when Ranma's Ki exploded over the entire battle area, knocking everyone down on the ground.

"Are you all quite finished!" Ranma yelled at us. Getting up, most of us nodded. The girls seemed quite surprised by the power of that blast. To be honest, so was I.

"And," Ranma said, turning to me, as I was the closest Senshi she could address. I think that was her reasoning at least. "who are you girls?" She asked coldly. I cold see the ice vapor come off her. 'That must be the soul of ice technique.' I thought, continuing my line of thought was 'She must be extremely pissed if she's giving off that much cold.'

"We are the Sailor Senshi, and we came to save your life." I stated flatly.

"Huh, like I really needed saving." She said.

"Yes you did." I said back. "If not for us, the combined attack of Herb Ryoga and Mousse would have killed you, Akane, and your Mother." I told Ranma seriously.

"I would have killed Akane?" Ryoga asked, dazed. "How? Who do you know that?" He screamed at me.

"Because it happed. I saw it in the future. And it would have led to World War Three." I told Ryoga.

"Obviously there is much to be discussed, like how my son's death would lead to that, and how you know that. Might I suggest we take this inside?" Nodoka asked, gesturing to the remarkably intact Tendo home.

"Yes, lets." I said, and then I followed her into the home.

Tendo house, fifteen minutes later

Everyone was inside, except for Ranma and Herb. They insisted on looking for the Unlocking Kettle and the Locking Ladle. I wasn't too concerned, for I had planed for this, and hid my smile beneath sipping my tea as I listened to their screams as they found them. Everyone was up and running out the door, as I calmly set my tea down and walked out.

Yep, there they were, both broken and with their water mixed together, making it impossible for them to change back. 'It least some part of my plan went right.' I thought.

As Ranma and Herb started to yell at each other screaming "This is all your fault." And went to attack each other, Usagi screamed in her Queen voice

"STOP!" and they did so, turning to look at her. "We're not going to have to go through all of that again, are we?" she asked them. they nodded no. "Good, then let's go into the house and listen to Pluto explain everything." She said, turning around and walking into the house.

We all followed, me with a sense of dread. 'Why do I feel so screwed?" I asked my self.

AN: Next chapter Ranma learns the Senshi's plans. And Ranma's NOT happy. With any of this. Neither is Herb for that matter.


	4. NO HAPPY CAMPERS

AN: Sorry about not updating this one for a while. Other shiny things caught my eyes for a long time. Oh, and I just realized something on my last re-read through the previous chapters. This story, in style at least, is comparable to the Sherlock Holmes stories. What I mean is, Ranma is the main character, like Sherlock was, and the story is told through another secondary character that is even more important to the story then the main character. I've made Setsuna into Watson! Eew, get that image out of my head. But seriously, that's how this story is written, for while Ranma is the star of the show and the story revolves around Ranma's exploits, Setsuna is telling the story, and is in all truth because of that and a few other things I will not go into now, vastly more important to the story. So a secondary character is more important then the main one, just like in Sherlock Holmes. Just thought I'd share that.

TIME'S MISTRESS, TIME'S SLAVE

CHAPTER THREE

NO HAPPY CAMPERS

I was right. I was so screwed it wasn't even funny. I had just told them that Ranma's death would have caused World War Three one way, then Usagi interrupted me with information that should not have been imparted, at least not at this time and I was hopping for never. And that was a even worse World War Three would have started if Ranma had avoided being locked and had taken the offered rulership of the Jusenkyo valley. I wanted to strangle the life out of her at that moment, but just had to visualize it, for she is someday going to be Neo Queen Serenity, the wisest, calmest and the most infallible beings to ever exist to my knowledge. Ahh, the metal strangulation of Usagi had made Neo Queen Serenity come out in my vision and all was right with the world. She could solve everything. Then I opened my eyes and admitted that as true. Then I told Ranma and Herb about Chaos coming, Ranma being his current chosen, which got a group yell of 'It figures!' from every non Senshi present, and then finally admitted that to beat him, we would need Ranma and Herb's held and they'd have to become Senshi to do it. I knew I could trust this group, even Nabiki, of keeping the identities of the two newest Senshi quiet. Then with that bomb dropped, I waited for the responses. And it was then that a utter felling of being totally and utterly screwed hit me and hit me hard.

For Ranma was fuming. Herb was fuming. Akane was very visibly angry. Nodoka visibly was in shock. Soun was crying. Genma had fallen unconscious. Kasumi was visibly worried. And Nabiki was just laughing her ass off. And that only covers the Tendo's and the Saotome's reactions to this news.

Cologne looked like she was planning something. So did Kiima who was holding on to the infant Saffron and looking at Cologne as well. They exchanged nods. Great something was up here. Shampoo was looking back and forth between everyone in visible shock Lime and Mint were staring a Herb's and Ranma's chests, and occasionally looking over at us, but for some reason preferred to just stare at Ranma and Herb, causing them to fume even more. And Kiima's advisers were huddled with the Amazon Elders and Herb's advisers planning something that would just screw me over. And that takes care of the visitors from Jusenkyo.

And then finally there was Ryoga and Ukyo. Ukyo was looking like her world had ended in a fiery blast of doom, and Ryoga, now Ryoga's reaction surprised me. He looked competitive and slightly sad. Like he had lost something great, yet had gained something even better, but was it worth the price paid? At least that's what it looked like to me. It turned out a little later that I was right.

At the moment, the conspiring group split to talk to both Kiima and Cologne. Kiima then announced "Ranma, while you still will become the new Empress of our people, we need to make sure that Beijing remembers that while we are located in China, even they have agreed that we govern ourselves as an island in their borders. While we may still be a part of China, we have been told to govern ourselves. The Chinese government long ago decided that they did not want to deal with us, and if we now choose to follow one leader, they must concede to it. We each, the Phoenix People, the Amazon's and the Musk have the documentation to prove this. And if they choose not to listen, we shall annex ourselves from them through the international community. While you are off saving the world Ranma and Herb, we shall be preparing for our conversation with Beijing."

I twitched at that. "You do realize that what you're doing could lead to a similar outcome of China feeling threatened by you?" I asked.

Cologne then said "They have always felt threatened by the tribes of Jusenkyo, for they do not understand and fear the strangeness that is prevalent there. But they did not want seem so weak as to free us from their supposed rule, so they made us an island in their own country. As we have documentation to that effect, even if after all this time Beijing has forgotten the fact, we have not. And if Beijing will not accept this, we will get international support for Ranma's new ruling of us. We will not allow anything even remotely like what could have happened happen. But as even we have to admit that we can not stand up to the full might of the Chinese army if they send it after us, we shall have to plan extensively for this. Ranma, if we have your permission, we will start the planning now."

Ranma sighed hard. "I know you said that when you were getting me to agree to being your ruler and all that you needed someone to keep you three from tearing each other's throats out all the time, and someone to unify you all, but you didn't say a damn thing about annexing yourself from China! Geez, what is with my life? I want full updates at all times on what the hell you guys are planning, and I make the final ok on any plan, got that? I ain't going to be no figure head leader. You wanted a leader, then I'm going to be one! Got that? You asked for this, so I'm going to do it. And I'm going to do it as I see fit." Ranma told the group with an ice cold glare.

"Yes, my Empress." Cologne said with a small smile. "Who do you want reporting to you, and should we plan this mostly in Japan where you will be needed?" she then asked.

"Yes to the second Question, and I want one representative from each tribe. You and Kiima I know, and you two pick a Musk that ain't Mint or Lime. No offence, but I don't think they're real planning guys." Ranma said about the two men still staring at her and Herb's chest. God I hope they come as a package deal with Herb. Then again they most likely do.

"As to you girls, what if I don't want to be a Senshi?" Ranma asked.

"Yes. I agree." Herb also told us.

"Ranma. It is very manly to save the world." Nodoka said evenly.

"Mom, I didn't say I wouldn't help. I just don't want to be a stupid magical girl! And I'd never live it down being seen in an outfit like that! For one thing it looks ridiculous, and for the other, I'd never get the old leech to leave me alone! And besides, how manly can I be right now? I'm stuck as a freaking girl!"

"Yes, Ranma is right. Those are horrible outfits." Herb agreed.

"Ranma, man or woman, you will always be very manly as long as you live your life as you have been, with honor. You do not need to worry about some outfit stopping you from being such. And I will talk to Genma's 'Master' about how he treats my son." Nodoka said fingering her katana's hilt.

"But Mom, I'd look ridiculous in it! And Herb even agrees! And think, how often do the two of us agree on anything but 'Fight now'?" Ranma whined to her Mother.

"Ranma's right. We don't agree on much, but this we do." Herb said flatly, looking disgusted.

"Let me get this straight," Ami started "You have no problems with fighting the force that is Chaos itself, being almost guaranteed to die doing so, but you do have a problem with the fact that to get the power you will need to even stand a chance, you'd have to wear something similar to this?" Ami asked while waving her hands over her Senshi uniform. "Are you listening to yourselves?"

"It ain't just the uniform, although that's bad enough." Ranma started. "It's the fact that I'll be getting what I like to call a power-up. I've seen everyone else get them at one point or another, for a short time that is, and it horribly stagnates their growth as a fighter. They rely on the new power they just got to beat me, and when I figure out the power's weakness, and then beat them with it, they either lose said power up or give it up. And then they have to work even harder to catch up to where they should have been if they had not relied on a power-up. I will not let myself stagnate and maybe even slip. I made myself the best I could through hard work, blood, sweat and lots of frustration. I ain't going to through it all away for some power-up that will make it easier to beat this Chaos guy."

"Ranma's right." Herb told us nodding. "I have been training my self very seriously since my first loss to him, er her, ah what ever. Same thing can be said about me now sadly." Herb said shaking her head "I do not want to throw all that work away for some magical power that I don't even understand or know how to use. I think you'll have a hard time selling me on this, and Ranma, good luck is all I can say." Herb told us.

I sighed. 'This would be hard. How to… that's it!' I thought to my self, smiling a smile that signified my victory, I said "You do not need to worry about this so called power-up causing your current skills to stagnate. Your skills will in all truth make this so called power-up even more powerful. All it does in reality is increases your current potential current level of power by a significant amount. It takes what it has to work with and makes it better while also giving you access to your power sources element for magical attacks. In fact I was thinking of suggesting having the two of you help us with our physical combat abilities while we teach you about your new magical abilities. For while we now have great skill in magical attacks, physical ones are not our strong suit. And as it is better to be balanced as a fighter, a teaching exchange would do us wonders if you would decide to join us. We would stand a much better chance against Chaos and whatever he sends at us first, if we were more balanced." I said thinking this would get them. I was right, but not how I thought. Even I don't know everything that will happen. I just pretend to.

Ranma and Herb did not look quite convinced yet. But then Nodoka said to them "Ranma. Stop being so stubborn. These lovely girls here need your help, and you are going to give it to them. And you," Nodoka said looking hard at Herb "They say you need to help them with my son. So you are going to help them, got me?"

Herb gulped, nodded and said "Yes mam." While Ranma just sighed a defeated sigh and said "Yes Mother."

Looking at us, Nodoka then said "Now while I thank you girls for saving Ranma, you now owe Ranma not for helping you, but for making it so a certain thing happened to make things easier on you." She said the last part staring at me like she could see through my soul and had found it wanting.

'How did she know I made sure Ranma and Herb stayed locked?' I asked my self.

"And to make sure that you stay true to your side of this bargain, I will be moving to Juban with Ranma and Herb so that I can make sure nothing else happens to my son and his friend." Nodoka said while still staring at me.

I gulped in some slight fear of the slightly angry Mother and said "I own a very large house that I share with a few of the other girls. You are welcome to stay as long as you want. We have plenty of room and privacy." I said nervously. If she told Ranma what I had done, not only would all trust go out the window in our working relationship, but I might not survive Ranma's and Herb's displeasure.

"That is very kind of you, we accept." She said giving me a glare that said 'You're not off the hook yet, and we will discuss this later.'

Then Ryoga made this day a day full of surprises. "Ranma, I'm sorry about this. You would have died protecting your Mother and Akane today, and I would have had a responsibility in that. To that end, even if I will be of no help in battle with you, which I sincerely hope is not the case, I will help you and Herb teach these girls martial arts and combat tactics. Well whenever I can anyway with my directional sense. So from now on whenever I pop in on you, I will help you teach as a guest teacher. And maybe see if I can't lend a small hand." Ryoga said seriously. Then he continued with what was probably the shock of the day for everyone who knew Ryoga.

"I had to think of what my life would be like with you dead. Forget the world and its supposed end, and just think of the impact your death would have on me. It would end me too. You are my eternal rival, yet you have always wanted to be my friend. And I just wanted to hurt you because blaming you was easier then blaming the right person or thing, or even finding out what that thing was. Without you to vent on, I think I'd kill myself. You are the reason my depression hasn't killed me yet. So I will now try to be what you wanted and I think I need, your friend. If you'll let me Ranma." Ryoga told Ranma.

"That's all I ever wanted from you Ryoga. Sure I want you as a real friend. And I'll be glad for the help teaching these girls. I've fought with you so much that I think we could easily choreograph a practice spar together to show these girls how to fight. And then we could wow them with a real one, no?" Ranma asked with a slight smirk.

"I hope you have not forgotten about me?" Herb asked sounding slightly insulted.

"Nah, you and I will have to teach them together most of the time. After we learn our lessons of course. But I've been fighting Ryoga here so long and so often that we can read each others moves like a book if we're not careful. You on the other hand I just get into way to epic a fight with every time. So you and I will have to work at working together, while Ryoga and I could do it in our sleep." Ranma said.

"I will grant you the truth in that. Well I must head back to my hotel to pack for going to this Juban. I take it you have to get ready to leave as well Ranma?" Herb asked.

Looking at her Mother, Ranma said "Yeah, looks that way."

Cologne then said to me, "If you can somehow drop off a copy of your address and phone number so I know where to find her so she can be updated like she wants, I would be most grateful." Then turning to Ranma, she said "We will be giving you bi-weekly update my Empress." Cologne said with a small grin and a very serious bow. "Come along now people, it's time to give Ranma time to pack." And then the Jusenkyo Valley Tribes left the house. And after some small goodbyes, we left as well, with the promises of a few of us coming back tomorrow to escort Ranma Herb and Nodoka to their new home. And making damn sure that Genma didn't join us. Surprisingly he didn't even want to. I don't think he wanted to be the only physically male being in a house. Good.

Though he and Soun harped on and on that the schools could now never be joined, and then were very vocal on how to get it back to being even in the realm of a possibility as we were leaving.

Nodoka stopped me before I left and said "We will be discussing certain things later. But you have some time before our discussion. Ranma and Herb need to get used to things, and you have much work to do before we discuss things. But mark my words Miss Pluto or whatever your real name is that I will find out tomorrow, I will discuss what you did to my son to make things easier for you."

I gulped and nodded while saying "I can't say I'll be looking forward to it. But it must happen I guess. I thank you for giving Ranma time to at least trust the others before you disrupt her trust in me." I told Nodoka who winced at the feminized form of address that I used for Ranma.

"Yes, I guess I should start referring to Ranma as my daughter, thanks to your efforts. One more thing to thank you for, and discuss with you. Now if you don't mind I have to help my daughter get read for tomorrow." Nodoka then turned around and walked stiffly back into the Tendo's house.

I left knowing I had been right. I was so screwed.

AN: I looked this up. When a country makes a small part of it a self governing area but it still stays a part of the country, they call it an 'Island' in the nation. I don't know why, I can guess, but I don't know for sure why it is referred to as such. Just letting you know I did not pull that term out of thin air. I really did research that.


End file.
